South Africa broke English hearts with a ruthless display of power rugby to seize their third Rugby World Cup in devastating fashion.
Twenty two points from the boot of nerveless fly-half Handre Pollard and second-half tries from wingers Makazole Mapimpi and Cheslin Kolbe ground England into the Yokohama dirt on a horrible night for Eddie Jones’s men.
England had trailed 12-6 at the interval after taking a hammering in the scrum and making a series of handling errors.
And despite four penalties from captain Owen Farrell they never looked like closing that gap as the Springboks produced an outstanding display to match those of 1995 in Johannesburg and 2007 in Paris.
Those were iconic moments for a nation besotted with rugby and when Siya Kolisi lifted the William Webb Ellis trophy aloft as the first black man to captain the Springboks they will have the final part of a triptych that will endure forever in the country’s collective memory.
For England it was a chastening end to a campaign that had promised to end the 16-year wait for the World Cup glory.
They were out-muscled, out-run and out-thought by a team transformed by the leadership of skipper Kolisi and the coaching of Rassie Erasmus.
Never before has a team beaten in the group stages gone on to win the trophy, but this is a triumph to match that of the teams of Francois Pienaar and John Smit with a wider story that perhaps surpasses both.
England, so quick out of the blocks in their semi-final win over the All Blacks, were rocked in the opening exchanges as prop Kyle Sinckler was knocked out in an accidental collision and forced to leave the field before touching the ball.
South Africa took that momentum and through a Pollard Garryowen-and-gather went deep into the English 22 before Willie le Roux knocked on as he carved an outside line down the right.
England were rattled, throwing loose passes, Farrell isolated as he tried to mop up one from Billy Vunipola and Pollard banging over the resulting penalty for 3-0.
The huge Springbok pack was making a mess of the English scrum and disrupting their line-out, but when the men in white made their first series of forays they won a breakdown penalty and Farrell levelled things up.
Now it was the Springboks forced into changes, hooker Mbongeni Mbonambi off with concussion and lock Lood de Jager appearing to dislocate a shoulder.
Yet England knocked on at the restart, had their scrum splintered and were behind again as Pollard slotted the penalty from the angle.
Back they came. The forwards hammered away at the South African line after driving a line-out on the 22, Courtney Lawes and replacement Dan Cole both going close until Duane Vermeulen infringed and Farrell kicked the penalty for 6-6.
The vast English support in the stands found their voice but the mistakes kept coming.
Billy Vunipola was penalised for holding on and Pollard landed a beauty from 40m, and then Elliot Daly knocked on from Lukhanyo Am’s kick ahead, the scrum was mangled again and Pollard struck again from in front of the posts.
It was a horrible half from Eddie Jones’ men, that 12-6 half-time deficit the biggest they had faced in the entire tournament.
